* Analisa, Product Developer & Tim, Entertainment Marketing * Photographer: Rad + In Love * Soundtrack for reading: “Nothing Can Change This Love” by Sam Cooke *
One sentence sum up of the wedding vibe: We wanted our wedding to feel intimate and relaxed, as if you were dressing up to go to your best friend’s house for an afternoon BBQ.
Other cool stuff we should know about: We saw a wedding on the lawn of San Ysidro Ranch on Design*Sponge four or five years ago and thought it was beautiful, but we were living in NYC at the time. When we moved to LA and got engaged, San Ysidro Ranch was the first and only place we went to look at for our ceremony and reception. We also saw our photographer’s work on a wedding blog, and they were the first and only photographers we met with because we loved them on the spot as well. Same goes with our florist and our priest, Father Jerry. We completely lucked out with the folks we chose to help us create our wedding, and the best part is that even our vendors reflected the mood we wanted to set. They were relaxed, professional, and fun to work with.
We had a morning ceremony followed by cocktails and lunch. We initially opted for lunch because it’s much less expensive than having a dinner, but we were very happy with the decision. Most of our family and friends were coming from New York or Texas, and they were able to enjoy California weather in February since the ceremony was held on an outdoor patio attached to the cottage where the lunch was held. This setup also allowed our guests to mingle and get to know each other in advance of everyone getting together at the hotel bar in the evening.
Favorite thing about the wedding: Our minister and the size of our wedding! We had a smaller wedding with forty-five people, and we encouraged everyone to bring their kids, so it truly was like a family get-together. Our priest was charming, funny, and such a wonderful person. He encouraged us to write letters to each other in advance of the wedding, which we read during the ceremony. When you see us laughing in our ceremony photos, it’s because we’re laughing at the letters we wrote to each other. There was also a moment when he asked us to turn around and look at our guests so that we could remember their faces and the memory is very sweet. We will always remember seeing the friends and family who have helped shape us beaming with love.
